Previously, individuals living alone who could not physically access their phone to call for help at the time of an emergency or who could not physically push a “911 button” on a 911 app on their cell phone, or an emergency button on their Life-Alert devices or other similar systems—either because they forgot they were wearing Life-Alert devices, or were too weak or too sick to push the button or simply unable to push a button having passed out before they could push it—were left unattended and non-rescued for hours at a time. In some cases this resulted in death, severe injuries, and paralysis that could easily have been prevented had they been rescued on time. The disclosed system fills that void. This is a new, unique and nonobvious global health, personal safety, and emergency response system designed to provide protection for individuals at risk of critical illnesses or fatal accidents, by alerting help at the moment it is needed and providing critical information to emergency professionals. In contrast to existing alert systems, this invention does not require the individual to press any button or take similar action to call for help—a physical action that may be impossible in a critical situation. The fact is accidents and illnesses happen to everyone. With this system, users no longer have to be powerless witnesses to their own sad fate. They can download this system to their computing device (e.g. smartphone) and the system will recognize when they are in danger and get them timely emergency help anywhere in the world, even if they are unconscious and even if their phone is not at a close distance. Users no longer have to be alone again even when they are by themselves. They can have this system serve as their loyal companion. The system comprises a mobile device app, a web application, white label APIs, advanced communications center services, a research center, a health resource sharing platform and a global health network. The system can also be used with other hardware and regular telephone services. The system includes its own technology, its own telephony and GPS systems, existing technology, future technology, its own or existing Content Distribution Networks (CDNs) or load balancing for data routing management and various hardware and accessories that serve to complement its efficacy.
Likewise, individuals who did not have a preset social and legal arrangements and/or a will and trusts in place ran the risks of having their assets unclaimed by their dependents, next of kin, loved ones and therefore ran the risks of causing their dependents to suffer the consequences of the lack thereof of these documents. This computer system fills that void.
Also, individuals whose health information was unknown by a doctor or a medical treatment team oftentimes receive an erroneous diagnosis, inaccurate treatments and/or duplicate treatments, duplicate diagnostic studies such as CT-Scan, X-ray etc., duplicate medications prescriptions, etc. Previously, individuals at risk for a condition or disease might not be aware of their risk(s) until it was too late when they consult a doctor or die from it. As a result, a once preventable disease becomes a real disease or a death sentence. Likewise previously, hospitals, other health entities and individuals who wanted to transmit medical records to another hospital, doctor, or other health entities could only do so using either mail, email or fax putting patients' medical records at risk of falling into the wrong hands. The various embodiments of the present disclosure fill that void by putting the security control, privacy and confidentiality of a user's electronic medical health records into the user's hands. The user can setup the system so that it does what the user wants it to do. Every user has the right to require that their health information be kept confidential. With this system, not only transmissions can be blocked, but also all transmissions are encrypted, tracked and leave an audit trail. This system allows users to transmit their medical records securely and seamlessly, whether it be in electronic form, paper form, photo, video or other forms, using the computer system and secure internet connection to transfer, synchronize, auto-update, scan in, embed and remotely access information via a user interface, a web server, APIs (Application Programming Interface: software to software interface), web APIs, and/or by other means adequate and compatible. The system allows users to create high security lockout access and allows users to place record holds, use role-based access (determining/authorizing in advance what individual or group of individuals can access a particular record/information) and use aliases for anonymity or to mask their identity along with de-identification mechanism. They may also choose to identify themselves using a set of numbers or a combination of numbers and letters than by their names; and, to request that this set of numbers or combination of numbers and letters be used in lieu of their names. The system is able to connect the alias or alternative identification by numbers or a combination of numbers and letters back to the user's (e.g. patient's) legal name and account number in a secure manner and via secure channels. Users control who sees and/or accesses their health records and for how long. Users control what those with access can do with their information. Users can put their record on hold or lock down their entire medical records or part of it. With this computer system, the user can give screening access only, restrict printing and downloading, make their record disappear when the clock reaches a specified period of time set, require rigid login using a set of access code(s), password, signatures, pin, or fingerprint, iris or facial recognition. Users can revoke or block access to just a specific section of their chart, for example, a lab result, a treatment or a progress note containing HIV-related information. Users can track all changes including addendums and all versions of their medical records and or mask sensitive entries etc. In the same fashion, the computer system may also restrict access to the network if it detects a remote connection that is not secure, so that the user's information can remain secure.
Current typical emergency response system requires pendants or wristbands to be worn by individuals, and alerts for help when the user presses a button. Similar functionality is available in various mobile device emergency apps currently on the market. However, none of them are equipped with systems to recognize when users are incapacitated or otherwise unable to summon help. This computer system allows a user to receive automated emergency help even if the user is unconscious (with no need to press a button, dial a number or take any action whatsoever when they need emergency help). This system does not require any contact of any kind with the user. No action is needed; except that the app is turned on to begin with. For example, if a user experiences a heart attack, stroke, seizures, drug overdose, syncope, critical vital signs, pacemaker malfunction, diabetic crisis or other emergencies, the app alerts 911 and communicates their exact conditions and circumstances to medical personnel. That means EMTs and law enforcement can know what has happened before they arrive on the scene. Since the system has location information (preprogrammed and/or GPS) and has the option for preprogramming a host of medical and other information, it ensures that emergency responders will show up at the right address and have access to critical information. The information included can include details about illnesses and medications as well as about who to contact if the individual is unable to communicate. Users have total control over their privacy and confidentiality. Doctors can easily gain permitted access to the user's current medical records, to avoid over-medicating and misdiagnosing them without needing to access the user's phone. User's wishes are relayed. If a user becomes ill or injured and their children are under 18, the system will relay the name and address of user's preferred caregiver for the children, even if users are too ill or injured to communicate without needing to access the user's phone. Likewise, if the user passes away, the system makes sure their wishes regarding their children's care and their projects are respected. Pre-death, the user can pre-program management for their minor's lives up to the point they legally become adults. If the user was working on a project, the project can continue its pathway through the system Research Center and the resulting revenues are distributed among user's indicated beneficiaries. This ensures the safety, peace-of-mind and well-being of users and their loved ones both while the user is alive and after the user's demise. These features are referred to as a user Digital Clone and Post-Life Dependent & Project Management. This feature is quasi-comparable to having the user alive and managing their children's lives. It can save comprehensive data about the users and their dependents, all aspects of their lives, their finances, their wishes, wants and desires for themselves and their dependents and users can pre-subscribe for any numbers of years desired. Users' medical and legal documents are kept safely on file and up-to-date. The computer system can be used anywhere in the world and all a user needs to benefit from the system is a smartphone, or a portable or non-portable computer. If users wish, they can leave the app on all the time for continuous or random monitoring and user also has the choice of aborting any of the modes (monitoring, pre-emergency and emergency) at any time and any point in time; but will be asked to confirm/verify that order/decision. The system incorporates multi-language voice-to-voice, voice-to-text, text-to-text, text-to-voice translation and voice recognition features so that users can speak in their desired language as well as type in the word or phrase they want translated and then transmits in real time and receives in real time either an audio response or a text or both a text and audio response which is crucial in conversations between doctors who speak different languages and in conversation with patients who speak different languages. The system will be able to communicate with users and health professionals in their native or selected languages using a combination of voice recognition, speech-to-speech and text-to-speech technology. For example, Mila speaks only Spanish but travels to Russia, gets sick there, and has to see a Russian doctor who speaks only Russian. Mila either sets up her preferred language and the translation desired or lets the system determine the languages in question as she establishes connection/contact with the Russian doctor. Upon establishing connection, the system determines the different languages spoken by the two by analyzing the inputted words/info or by analyzing Mila's inputted preferred/selected language against the Russian doctor preferred/selected language and vice versa. Translation is automatedly initiated accordingly to enable the Russian doctor to hear/read Mila's conversation in the Russian language in real time and to enable Mila to hear/read the Russian doctor in the Spanish language as if they were both speaking the same language. The system uses geographic tracking to identify appropriate emergency numbers and the local language in which the emergency alert and message is to be delivered along with their preferred method of message delivery. The computer system also has provisions for cases of abduction and kidnapping where the offender gets rid of the victim's phone. To allow a user to still be trackable and receive emergency help, the computer system pairs the application with a wearable hidden miniature Global Position System (GPS) tracking device a user can wear for that extra shield of safety to still be track-able. This system is the first of its kind requiring no input from the user in case of emergency, even if the user is unconscious. Users will not have to be near computers and base stations, nor will they have to wear pendants or bracelets. Users will not even have to press a button, an action which may be impossible in an emergency. The system's primary mission is to reduce preventable deaths and disabilities by offering a life-saving product available to everyone in the world and empower people through technology to be in control of their own health and private information, no matter who they are, or where they live. Think of this system as a loyal companion, a faithful angel, or a really intelligent caregiver who is there for the user whenever he/she needs it.
Systems like Life-Alert and its competitors, and the 911 apps and others currently on the market, allow users only to “physically” push a button, either on their phone or on an accessory. Therefore, these systems do not address cases in which users cannot physically push a button or lack access to their phone at the very time they have the emergencies. Examples include situations such as when a user experiences a sudden loss of consciousness/syncopal episode or a mechanical fall in the shower, has poor memory and forgets they were wearing a Life-Alert bracelet, or falls at a distance from the phone and is unable to get up. Also, sometimes the user is so sick and/or so weak that they cannot talk or explain what is happening. In other words, previous systems are inefficient and also very 19th century. With the present disclosure, wearing bracelets or any other accessories that require the push of a button to provide emergency rescue help or needing a phone close by to call for emergency help will be a thing of the past.
Likewise, systems such as Life-Alert or similar, such as Connect America and LifeWatch USA, and the 911 apps on the market all are limited to touch/push/press/click of a button. However, what happens when a user cannot push that button or is too far from their phone? For example, an elderly patient wearing a Life-Alert necklace fell on her bathroom floor after taking a shower and she was unable to get up. Her Life-Alert necklace would have been useful had she remembered to use it. Unfortunately, being elderly with poor memory, she did not remember she was wearing a Life-Alert necklace. She remained lying down on the cold bathroom floor for eight and a half hours before she was rescued. She was found dehydrated, hypothermic, in pain from a broken hip with accompanying internal bleeding, starving and shaking in fear that she was going to die on the bathroom floor. Consider a sitting person who had a severe headache for an hour and subsequently develops a massive stroke and therefore is unable to press the button on their necklace or a young person who decides to experiment with drugs in the privacy of his/her room but is not sure what to expect and has no idea this would end up causing his/her death. The present disclosure helps save those lives that would otherwise end early/prematurely.
Another problem not addressed by the prior art is distance with transmitting from the wearer to a base unit nearby. What happens when the user leaves their house or travels? To mitigate this problem, some companies provide the user with a separate cell phone to call if for emergency help. This combination forces a user to carry two cell phones: one for personal use and one for emergency response. The present disclosure solves this problem by providing boundless worldwide coverage with the same simplistic system. For example, if a user lives in Europe or travels to Europe, he/she won't need to make any changes to receive automated emergency help because the computer system is intelligent enough to automatically self-adjust and deliver messages in the location's native language.
One other problem not addressed by these apparatuses with mobile apps and life alert systems currently on the market is loss of power and no phone signal. With these systems, if the battery dies, then so does the help their system offers. The present disclosure solves this issue by providing a “charge-device” reminder and/or by alerting a user to charge their phone when it reaches a preset parameter and/or by remotely detecting inactive interfaces of up-to-date subscriptions of the innovative app installed on a user's apparatus (e.g. electronic computing device smartphone with mobile app), which incorporates a series of codes/algorithms, which, when an app becomes inactive (not by the user's choice) such as when the apparatus is out of power or malfunctioning, automatically activate the “No Signal protocol” comprising: 1) forced reboot/refresh of the system; 2) a call/text/alert to a pre-selected neighbor or a relative who has close access to the user to go check on the user and/or 3) by offering the app's own dedicated/standalone apparatus/device with removable battery and/or with ultra-extended battery life that is able to last a longer usage than normal. As an added safety feature, if a user loses their phone while the app was on, access to the user's information can be remotely locked. Likewise, to allow users to use the computer system internationally and to counter the issue of running out of power on their regular phones, the system includes its own dedicated telephony and battery system and other accessories that complement the system.
No Phone Signal Safety. The system also has provisions for when the user's phone enters a No-Signal Zone. How is this done? As a user reaches or has reached a no-signal zone, the system detects “No Signal” and warns the user that he/she is entering a “No-signal zone”. Warnings can be made in a manner preset by the user such as, for example, a special ringtone, beeping incessantly until user becomes aware and complies, etc. “Complying” as used herein means that if the signal is not restituted, the user already has a plan in place within the computer system to notify emergency contacts or loved ones of the user's intended location, if the user has not returned to a signal-zone after a certain period of time has elapsed.
On default settings, once the user approaches a no-signal zone, the computer system will automatically send an initial notice of last known location to the user's designated emergency contact(s) and will prompt users to input details of their trip/destination, how long the trip will last, or how long they plan to remain within the no-signal zone and when they expect to get back. The system can pick up on the user's arrival at home or at an indicated destination using location sensors. The system automatedly sends, or asks the user to approve, a second notice being sent to the same emergency contacts or loved one that were notified earlier to inform them this time around the user has arrived home or at a destination safe.
If a user did not attend to the phone on time and did not regain a signal, then the computer system will indicate how long since the last signal, and the precise location where the user last had a phone signal along with a map of their location. The user may then retrace their path to their latest signal zone, and they may call or send loved ones a message regarding their whereabouts. They may also put the computer system in monitoring mode.
International Travel Safety. For users who travel overseas and whose smartphone does not work overseas but take SIM cards (FIG. 38, 380), they can, if desired, obtain the computer system's proprietary international SIM cards compatible with the country they are visiting. Users can also purchase or borrow the system's own apparatus-smartphone as it will be inexpensive, unlocked, waterproof, and work globally since it supports three or more of the following global communication technologies: LTE, GSM, 4G, WCDMA/UMTS, HSPA, GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA+, TD-LTE, FD-LTE, CDMA, EVDO etc.